Do you remember what the very first thing the new Democrat majority did as soon as they were seated in Congress? They changed the House rules to make it nearly impossible for the GOP to have any input. In an article dated January 6, 2009, Larry Margasak wrote, "In changing how the House operates, Democrats sent a message that they will use the huge majority they won in November to overpower Republicans any time they wish. GOP leaders complained to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that they were being marginalized, but there is little they can do." And Republican leaders, in a letter to Nancy Pelosi, noted that, contrary to the promises of Barack Obama that the new government would be bipartisan, they complained that these new rules represented a "reverting back to the undemocratic one-party rule and backroom deals that the American people rejected more than a decade ago." And they put those new rules to work with the passage of the stimulus bill, with no Republican opportunity for input, no alternative bill to discuss in committee, and only three Republicans out of all of them voting for the bill. But three were enough, such is the overwhelming imbalance of power in the Congress. The message to Republicans: Our way or the highway.

If moderate senators like John McCain hoped to have an era of collegiality under Obama, they are more naïve than I thought. Remember McCain telling us during the campaign that we didn't need to be afraid of an Obama presidency? I'll bet Sarah Palin didn't think that way. Maybe Sen. McCain has been in Washington too long. He can't see the poison tree for the forest of weed trees. But Obama is clever (or weak, I'm not sure which). Either he can't control his party, or (more likely) he's playing salesman and diplomat, while his Leftist thugs in the Congress do the dirty work (his dirty work) of consolidating a permanent Left-wing majority that may never be broken—instant dictatorship.

Is this what Obama's supporters had in mind? Undoubtedly some of them did. The self-consciously bohemian Hollywood crowd, homosexuals, feminists, abortionists, euthanasia advocates, sundry "victim" groups. But what of the more moderate Democrats and Republicans who bought into the message of "Hope". What of those who actually believed in an era of peace and reconciliation.

I am reminded of an old episode of the original Law and Order involving a dominatrix whom ADA Ben Stone was pursuing in the death of one of her "clients". Executing a search warrant, he demands the key to a locked chest, which she coyly identifies as her "hope chest". Upon opening it, Stone reaches in and pulls out a handful of chains and leather, and asks, "What were you hoping for?"

I couldn't help thinking of that that hilarious line as I watched our new president

doing, predictably, what Leftists always do.

1) Choose one corrupt official after another (tax dodgers),

2) Tell us we should stop listening to conservative talk radio (with some leaders on the Left beginning to talk of control of the free political press through FAA licensing restrictions).

3) Decide to move the Census into the White House and put it under his control (believed to be the beginning of a redistricting scheme).

4) seek legal sanctions to prevent his birth and college records from being made public (lest we discover he was never even eligible to be the American President in the first place),

5) and lie to our faces about the pork and earmarks in the so-called Stimulus Bill, which is being paid for with money borrowed from China and Europe. This means that America's obligations now exceed world GDP, while everyone who knows anything about economics (from experts to the responsible members of the American public who actually know how to manage their money) are screaming that this plan is insane.

But it is not insane. It is diabolically cunning. It is part of the strategy of total control. Do you remember the Communist Rules for Revolution I told you about in an earlier column? Here are three of them that might look familiar:

*Destroy people's faith in their natural leaders by holding the latter up to contempt, ridicule and disgrace. (Like Sarah Palin and Pres. Bush?)

*Always preach true democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible (like Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats changing the House rules to shut out Republicans?; like Obama moving the Census into the White House?)

And the piece de resistance--

*By encouraging government extravagance, destroy its credit, produce years of inflation with rising prices and general discontent. (Like the stimulus packages that are laden with liberal pet projects and pork that have nothing to do with fixing the economy. If they don't work (and there are plenty of credible voices who maintain that they will not), the effect will be "years of inflation with rising prices and general discontent."

And so I say to all the people who thought Barack Obama was going to be the answer to all their prayers, "What were you hoping for?" Did you really think he would be the One Who Would Deliver Us from having to pay our mortgages and gasoline? Is he Robin Hood, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus who would deliver a new era of peace, prosperity, and bipartisanship? Or is he the Pied Piper, leading the unwary children off with his beautiful tune, never to be seen again.

We ignored the warnings about his associations with radicals and with ACORN. We ignored his questionable citizenship and legal status, we ignored his membership in the New Party, a socialist party which requires its members to be activists, to not merely believe in socialism, but to actively work to achieve it. We ignored his radical anti-life record. And now we are just beginning to see what is in store for us.

One frightening example is the creation of a new medical bureaucracy (included in the stimulus bill) called the National Coordinator of Health information Technology. The medical provisions in the stimulus plan closely follow those recommended by Tom Daschle, who was Obama's choice (since rescinded) to head the Department of Health and Human Services. The government will have an electronic database containing all medical records on every American. Our medical treatment will be tracked electronically by this federal system to make sure your doctor's treatment is "appropriate and cost effective." (Don't you think the government knows better than your doctor what treatment is appropriate for you?) Doctors and hospitals will have no choice but to be "meaningful users" of this system (a vague, undefined term in the plan) or face penalties. If your doctor feels he needs to go beyond the protocols established by the government body, the government, via an appointed panel of "experts", will make the hard decisions (including termination, if it is deemed your doctor is spending too much on your care). This does not look good for the elderly and infirm.

Well, gosh, the Democrats used their godlike powers to make sure no one had time to actually read the bill before signing it (no pressure there--I have visions of Snidely Whiplash pressuring sweet Polly Purebred into signing over the deed to her land while she's tied to a train track with a train bearing down on her). How will President Obama put a positive spin on it, I wonder. How will we?

And will we also put a positive spin on his efforts to seize and hold power by moving the (supposedly non-political) US Census into the White House and giving control of it to his staff? The concerns expressed in news reports and columns that the information will be used for "redistricting" to ensure continued Democrat dominance and control is, of course, a great concern. Can you think of any other reasons why it would be undesirable for a party, either party, but especially a Leftist party (think Hitler, Stalin, Castro) to have personal information on each and every single American in the country? I can…

Alisa Craddock is a columnist and activist in the culture war, a convert to Catholicism, and describes herself as a Christian Libertarian. She may be contacted atalisa.craddock@hushmail.com.